As soon as they cleared the ridge and the bunker faded into the distance behind them, Kali activated the encrypted comm-link stitched into his collar. The signal bounced off a dozen repeater towers before locking into the SynSpec channel.
"It's done," he said, voice hoarse.
A moment passed. The voice that replied was calm, clipped, and unmistakably corporate. "Understood. Confirmation of the governor's death has been received. Your extraction point is set. Coordinates uploaded. Expect no resistance."
The line cut.
No gratitude. No accolades. Just protocol.
Kali first returned to Colt's hideout and grabbed the loaded the widowmaker into the car, then headed for the city gates.
The city gates loomed ahead, checkpoint drones offline or in sleep mode from the blackout still gripping Medri. They didn't slow down. The car they'd jacked rumbled over cracked concrete and then surged through the breach in the wall, out into the open world.
The landscape turned to rusted orange and shale gray, the remnants of some forgotten oceanbed. Dust devils danced in the distance, indifferent to the blood and fire behind them.
The drive was quiet. Neither Kali nor Priene spoke. Words felt clumsy now, too soft for what they'd done, too loud for what was left behind. Her knuckles were white on the dash. His eyes didn't leave the horizon.
They drove for an hour, the silence never breaking, until a small rise gave way to the meeting spot.
There, in the shadow of an ancient wind-farm skeleton, stood a man.
He wore a simple black coat, an insignia of Synesthetic Specialties embossed in silver on the collar. Behind him, a matte-gray jeep and a personal shuttle waited. The shuttle was sleek, almost predatory in design, grayish-black composite plating, its landing gear sunk deep into the sand. It looked new, fresh off-planet, a promise of escape with a fuel core to match.
No one else.
Kali slowed the car, eyes sweeping the perimeter. He was trained for betrayals, raised on them.
"I half expected an ambush," he muttered, easing out of the driver's seat. His boots crunched on the sand. "Not going to lie."
The rep gave a neutral smile. "You're not worth betraying."
Kali raised a brow, not sure if that was honesty or insult.
The man extended a data tab. "Everything's in order. Shuttle's been wiped of previous logs. New IDs for both of you. Enough fuel to get you off-world and more. After that, you're ghosts."
"I'm not leaving," Priene said, her voice calm but unwavering.
Kali didn't flinch. He'd known it was coming. Had seen the truth etched into her silence for days, the way her gaze lingered on every ruined wall, every scarred face they passed. She'd already decided.
The SynSpec representative turned his head slowly, eyes narrowing at her. "You've made more than a few enemies in Theraxis."
She didn't blink. "They made themselves."
A flicker of something passed across the man's face. "Well," he said, with dry neutrality, "that's your choice."
He didn't press her. No persuasive speech, no offer of reconsideration. Just a curt nod before he stepped into the waiting jeep, tires biting into red earth as he disappeared into the dust.
Kali turned toward her. "Are you sure?"
The words were just ritual. They both knew her answer.
"Yes." Her voice was heavier now. "We've left this city in SynSpec's hands. No one's going to fight them. And I... I can't live with that on my conscience. Plus, Darius is still out there."
Her hand flexed at her side, brushing against the hilt of her machete like it was an extension of her spine. She wasn't just staying to survive. She was staying to resist.
Kali unloaded the exosuit, then took out the encrypted drive from his coat, the one Alenra had delivered along with the intel package on awakening, mutation patterns, and cognition theory, nonexistent knowledge on this planet.
"You'll be needing this, then," he said, placing it gently in her palm.
She pocketed it without looking, then met his gaze. Something in her expression had softened. Her features drank him in, memorizing the shape of his jaw, the worn edges around his eyes, the faint scar beneath his cheekbone. The things a photograph couldn't keep.
"I'll miss you," she said.
"Me too."
Priene nodded once, curt and certain, before turning back to the car. She didn't look at him again. The engine roared to life and the vehicle pulled away, her silhouette soon swallowed by the swirling red dust of the expanse.
Kali stood motionless, watching the trails linger like fading smoke. She was gone.
"We should go," came a voice, not aloud, but inside his skull, like a shadow speaking from behind the bone. Rizen.
Kali turned, the shuttle's hatch still open like a waiting mouth. He climbed in slowly, unease crawling up his spine as he looked over the cockpit. Then it hit him.
"I… don't know how to fly this thing," he admitted.
There was silence for a heartbeat, then a faint chuckle from deep within his neural link. "Allow me," Rizen said, tone smooth and just a little too proud.
Kali felt the shuttle stir as the Machina interfaced with the vessel's systems. Lights blinked alive across the console, the engines began to hum, and the ship lifted gently from the ground, rising into the alien amber sky.
"Off-world," Kali murmured, half to himself. The word tasted strange in his mouth, like prophecy fulfilled.
"Yes," Rizen replied. "It's been a long time coming. And… if I may be candid, you surprised me."
Kali arched a brow. "I do that."
"No," Rizen said. "I mean it. During your time here, I chose to remain silent, to let you struggle, to let you think, bleed, adapt. I needed to see what you were made of. And now, I am… astonished."
Kali let out a dry laugh. "Astonished. That's high praise coming from a disembodied war criminal."
"There are things you could have handled better," Rizen admitted, ignoring the jab. "But you've been smart. Resourceful. Brutal when necessary. Merciful when it counted. Determined beyond expectation."
Kali eased into the pilot's chair, watching the curvature of Theraxis fall away beneath them. A ghost world now. A sealed chapter. The jump gate of the local orbital station coming into view. "So now you'll be more forthcoming?" he asked, one corner of his mouth tugging upward. "Now that I've passed your little test?"
"Yes," Rizen said simply, as they pierced the jump gate and the ship shuddered into the stillness of vacuum. "Because now, I can tell you why we had to get off-world."
Kali turned toward the console, stars glinting beyond the viewport. "Go on, say it."
Rizen's voice was calm, but edged with something deeper. "To evolve you, Kali. To begin the next phase of your becoming."
Kali's chest tightened.
"Your evolution into Homo astralis."